Final Boss Guides: Super Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars
Taking on the Final Boss of Super Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars
Super Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars is undoubtedly one of the greatest games ever released, and one of my personal favorites. Unleashed for the Super NES in the mid-90’s, just before the torch was passed to the Nintendo 64, and developed by RPG masters Squaresoft_, Mario RPG_ was a hit. I have been waiting for this game to hit the Wii’s Virtual Console since its inception, and I am pleased to say that it’s finally been set free in the United States. I’ve already rabidly devoured the entire game for a second time, and thought I would provide some tips for the final boss, which is the only section of the game I had slight problems with this time around.
Smithy, Mario RPG’s head honcho, is no joke – even if you’ve breezed through the game thus far with little to no difficulty, it’s likely that this guy will give you at least a little bit of a challenge. The first thing you need to do is to make sure you’re stocked up on items. After you defeat all the mini-bosses leading up to the big guy, head back a couple of screens to Toad, who is standing there ready and willing to open up his shop. Make sure you have at least 4 or 5 max mushrooms, 8 to 10 pick me ups, and most importantly plenty of maple syrups. Hopefully you have some megalixers and royal syrups in your inventory as well.
Once you’re sufficiently stacked, head up to the save block and save your game. Now you’re ready to slide down that pipe and take on the boss. I used the party of Mario, Mallow and Geno. After a semi-annoying section of dialogue between all the game’s main characters and Smithy, Mario jumps into the action and the battle begins.
This first part of the fight doesn’t seem too difficult at first, but if you don’t watch out for a few specific things, you’re going to be in trouble later on. Make sure you save most of your items (only use them when absolutely necessary) in this section of the battle, because you’ll need them shortly. Hammer Smithy with physical attacks, until he pounds out one of his henchmen. When this occurs, use Geno, Mallow or Mario’s all-encompassing special attacks. After two rounds of this, the henchman should be dead and you can continue hitting Smithy with physical attacks. Watch out for his meteor shower, which is the only real devastating defense Smithy has in this part of the battle. Once Smithy is defeated, his true form is revealed and you’re catapulted down into the depths of the factory.
Now is when you should deplete your stock of items and stay on top of your party’s health. Designate Mallow as the party’s healer, using HP Rain nearly every turn so you can save up your mushrooms. Use Mario’s Ultra Jump as much as you can here, as it will eat away at Smithy’s HP. When he hammers himself into the mage, make sure you use physical attacks – they are extra-powerful when he is in this form. He has some extremely powerful offensive moves, so make sure you’re on-hand with pick me ups and don’t wait to use them. As soon as a party member is down, help them out. Keep up with this strategy and you should be just fine: eventually Smithy will fall. Enjoy the game’s ending parade, and take solace in the fact that you’ve completed a timeless classic.
